Rise to the top of the world, America America, don't you cry Give me strength to press on Feel you close like you wanted me to Believe in you Is this just an illusion That I made inside my head to get me by? Twenty years in debt

Only pain, all in vain Since day one you try your best To get what you need the most The solution is you, becoming a god The day you get to the point All illusions are lost The problem is you, becoming so cold Just wanted to be good Just wanted to be gold

(Could it be that) it's just an illusion (Putting me back) in all this confusion (Could it be that) it's just an illusion (now) It's just an illusion, illusion, illusion Illusion, illusion, illusion, illusion Searching for a destiny that's mine There's

(Could it be that) it's just an illusion (Putting me back) in all this confusion (Could it be that) it's just an illusion (now) It's just an illusion, illusion, illusion Illusion, illusion, illusion, illusion Searching for a destiny that's mine There's

It's an illusion Can't believe what you hear Don't believe what you read Here and gone in a day Not what it seems this American dream Just drifting away After all that we've seem A complete waste of time Just a nursery rhyme

What's love but just some illusion we believe What's love but just some confusion we don't need Sittin' here It's closing time You've got your troubles and I bet they're just like mine Somebody told you goodbye But I know a way that can't go wrong Nobody

Ah, but that green grass on the other side Is just an illusion We all have our own confusion Looking out at the people looking in Feeling good must be some kind of sin Looking in at the people looking out Feeling guilty, scared to move about Looking up

Well, a goodbye never seems finished Just like these songs that I write They hang aloft like stars in the night But there's nothing there but the illusion of a light And you, you could've been mine Your mother, she's an actress And we're all putting on a